“I am who I am and nobody can change me”.

Oh, how many times I’ve heard people say words to that effect. It’s usually from females that I’ve heard it and I don’t mean that in any prejudiced way. It’s a stubborn and stoic sense of self-esteem that’s often aloof in delivery.

Great! I’m an advocate for people being true to themselves. The way I see it is that we only have one life and we should live it being who we are and not imitating others or trying to appease everybody.

I’ve become increasingly stubborn like that over the years. I know who I am; I know what I want and woe betide those who even try to stop me. Believe me; I’ll see to it that you regret it. My newfound self-belief has landed me in trouble and perhaps alienated people, but I don’t regret being the way I am because it’s directly as a result of it that I’m actually trying to make my dreams become reality.

The issue I have with the words that began this post is this: how true are they?

People can scream that they’re a unique and individual snowflake until they’re blue in the face, but does saying it make it fact? For me, actions speak louder than words so when these people are saying how unchangeable they are so forcibly and then acting nothing like how they say it leads me to question just how scared people are of staying true to themselves.

Now more than ever, I would say that acceptance takes precedence over individualism. Most everybody copies the latest trends and fashions in all walks of life because of a crippling fear of ostracism. People want to be themselves, but they’re too afraid that by being themselves they’ll end up as outcasts. So instead they pick a group in society and blend in.

It’s both understandable and pathetic at the same time. I can’t help but be judgemental because I’ve put my neck on the line to stand up for what I believe in before today and suffered the consequences. I’d do the same again a million times over because I’d rather die than sell my soul for an easy life.

So ask yourself; how much is your soul worth? How much are you worth? Are you worth acting like something you aren’t just to appease others?  Are you open to the highest bidder?

Self-respect is worth more money than you’ll ever earn in your life. Time is worth even more than that. So when you’re working yourself to death for a paltry sum of money just to afford some creature comfort that you’ll never get to use because you’re always working, just ask yourself the above question; how much am I worth?

I’ll tell you now that those people who would readily ostracise you for being you and the company that pays you a pittance for earning them millions aren’t worth you. Inside all of us is something amazing if we’d only stop going along with what pop culture says we should.

By pop culture I don’t necessarily mean just in terms of music, television and fashion. I mean in terms of how the people in charge expect us all to be too. I mean in terms of mainstream media telling us what we should all believe.

I won’t go into the importance of finding things out for yourself and not believing everything you read and hear via the news. That kind of goes off the subject, but in many ways it’s indirectly linked to how sure of your own mind you might be.

There’s nothing better than being true to who you are. Saying you’re your own person and nobody can tell you to be a certain way is all good and well, but if it’s only words then who are you trying to fool aside from yourself? It’s yourself you need to convince; nobody else. You need to be your own person. You need to respond to the people telling you what to be by saying “I’m perfectly happy with what I am”. Don’t sell yourself for less than your value. Only you can determine what value you’re worth.

You are unique if you allow yourself to be unique. There’s something you have to offer that nobody else can. I’ve met some people who were lovely, but I’ve felt they’re so busy trying to fit in that they aren’t quite themselves. At the same time I’ve met some real individuals who are utter prats, but at least they’re not faking it. At least they really are at one with who they are.

Look at yourself both inside and out. Who are you? What are you? How do you think other people see you? How do you see yourself? Are you really being the real you? If you lie about the answer to any of those questions then you’re only lying to yourself.

Maybe I’m placing too much importance on individualism and self-worth. Maybe you do forty hours a week and then twenty hours overtime on top because it’s necessary in your mind’s eye. Perhaps I’m wrong. It is, like anything else I post on this blog, my opinion. There’s no right or wrong when it comes to opinion. It’s just an expression of thought or feeling.

But my opinion is that time is the most valuable currency in life. You only have as much of it as you have and when it’s gone that’s it. There’s no begging on the street for more of it. There’s no banking it for a rainy day. It is what it is. Sure, it doesn’t put food on the table, but without time there’d be, no food, no table and no you anyway.

You are the most important ingredient to the time you have so why not spend that time being true to who you are? Don’t just go from one day to the next being something you aren’t. Do what you have to in order to survive, but give a little time to be who you are. Chase those wild dreams you harbour. Work on achieving goals that really matter to you. See yourself as important!

How much is your soul worth? It’s worth as much as you want it to be. It’s worth as much as you sell it for. I decided a year or so ago that my soul is priceless. My soul isn’t for sale. The best anybody will get out of me is what I’m prepared to give. I’ll never be desperate enough to undervalue myself again. You should do the same.

Any questions or remarks about this post? Is it necessary in this day and age to sell yourself in order to survive? Do you fear what others might think of you if you dare be yourself around them? Your comments are welcomed and appreciated as ever and I will respond as soon as I see them.

 

Image Credits

Image one from Pinterest

Image two from Wisdom To Inspire The Soul post A measure of your wealth

Image three from Love This Pic

Image four from City Light Church NYC blog post How much is your soul worth?